The major goal of this project remains the same, viz., understanding how human beings process information delivered to their skin. A number of basic research studies presently under way are concerned with the psychophysical determination of receptor processes in hairy and glabrous skin. A second group of investigations in perception seek to define the processes underlying the phenomenon of sensory saltation, discovered earlier in this laboratory. This effect results in alterations of the perceived localization of stimuli, and most probably is closely related to sensory storage and short-term memory processes. Application of the saltation effect to the generation of contours, shapes, and complex patterns on the skin by a computer-controlled vibrotactile matrix is currently under way, in the full expectation that there will be implemented the production of a collocation of haptic patterns useful to persons who seek to encode significant environmental signals for processing by the skin, as in, e.g., development of prosthetic devices for the perceptually handicapped. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Elliott, L.L., & Sherrick, C.E. NINCDS workshop on tactile and visual aids for the deaf. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1976, 59, 486-489.